Crossing the Line
by Ironfoot
Summary: After defeating Ramirez, Vyse and co. enjoy a celebration on Crescent Isle. At least, that was the last thing Vyse remembered.


It was dark and he wasn't clear on where he was. He heard a scream, coming from his side. He tried to see, but he saw nothing but darkness. A course laughter echoed all around him, something hideous that tore through him. He couldn't take any more of it and readied himself to jump into the dark to fight this invisible foe. But as soon as he did, vision returned to him.

Lifting his head, Vyse found himself on the floor underneath a large dining table. Laugher was everywhere, voices congregating into a morass, rolling like waves above him. His head was swimming and he could barely remember what was happening. Something about defeating Ramirez. Oh right! It was the after party. That's all he needed to know.

Vyse crawled out from under the table, pillows and chairs scattered in his path. Getting up, he sat himself on the nearest chair and tried to gather what remained of himself. His vision swam along with him, but he could see a few people left. Gilder was seen in the corner along with a number of pirates, arguing with Baltor about something. He had somehow eluded Clara, and she was nowhere to be seen. In the other corner, Moegi and Enrique were sharing an intimate moment and they were oblivious to all else around them. Other than a few crew members laying on the floor, most seemed to enjoy themselves or had headed back to their bunks for the evening. That was good, as Vyse realized he needed a nice soft bed to lay on as well.

"Get some rest, lad." said Ryu-kan, sitting crossed legged nearby. "You've had a long day, and I feel your journey is not quite over yet."

Deciding that was a good idea, Vyse exited the room and found that he was outside his headquarters on the top peak of Crescent Isle. A countless number of ships surrounded him, all from his adventures leading up to the sinking of Soltis. Sighing, he boarded the elevator and began his descent down to the bottom of the isle. In a way it was heartwarming to finally see everyone come together, forget their differences and have a good time with their victory over Ramirez. It was nice to see everybody getting along for once, even though he knew that things would return to normal soon enough. A good chunk of his crew would probably follow Enrique back to value and help rebuild his kingdom, but that was fine. There was no reason for him to have a large crew anymore.

The elevator reached the bottom and Vyse hopped off, enjoying his more-than-tipsy stupor. A variety of folk were spread out along the central courtyard talking amongst each other or incoherently muttering to themselves speeches they would never remember. Kalifa was one of them, sitting on the edge of the fountain as Polly nodded on in silence. Seemingly sensing her boredom, Don hobbled over and in a dramatic gesture pushed her into the fountain.

"Bet you didn't see that coming! Hahaha!" he laughed before losing his composure and falling to the ground in his amusement.

I didn't think Vyse would make it past the Valuan armada, but that boy surprises me everytime." Polly said with a smile, just as Vyse sneaked past them.

"That boy is real slippery." said Don, catching his breath. "If he can get through the Dark Rift then he can get through your big arms!" Vyse almost chuckled; Don clearly spotted him but he didn't want anything to do with the aftermath after what he said.

"Why you little..." Sure enough, Don's night went straight south and Vyse decided to keep going. By the time Polly turned around, it was too late. He was already gone. In fact, he was already walking up the steps to the top of the small apartments that were built for he and his crew. Sometimes, he wished that Babham had built an elevator to go along with it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a thump up above him. "Carry-ho!" came a shout, and suddenly someone was seen tumbling down the staircase.

"Wha?" Thinking quickly, Vyse stepped aside and tried to stop the man from reaching the bottom. It was his pint sized crewmate Pinto, and Vyse easily picked him off the steps and watched an amusing face glare back at him.

"I got you captain! I got you!" Pinto shouted, wiggling his feet.

"What did I do?" Vyse asked.

"Nothing! I want to roll!" Pinto explained, trying to free himself of Vyse's grip.

"If you say so..." Vyse said, dropping him back onto the steps. Pinto immediately rolled down to the bottom and burst out in laughter. "I wonder what he drank..." Vyse thought to himself before continuing his ascension to the top floor.

Reaching the top, he saw that his room was dark: thankfully, no one had tried to break in. It was his initial fear after having so many black pirates land at his base, but such fears were now eliminated thanks to loqua. They had brought a ton of it, especially Baltor which made Vyse suspicious at first but it seemed his fears were unfounded.

Keying his lock, Vyse entered his room and quickly closed the door. Everything looked fine, but he decided not to bother turning the lights on and check to make sure. "I could sleep for a lifetime." he muttered, yawning to himself before collapsing onto his bed. Finally, the moment he had waited so long for.

However, a few hours later something woke Vyse from his sleep. His room was still dark and there was a silence about him: it seemed most people had gone to sleep given the little noise from outside. But then he heard a deep breathing seemingly right next to his ear, along with the smell of loqua. Turning his head, Vyse saw his friend Aika fast asleep next to him. "Um...Aika?" he thought. Was this about the previous night? Perhaps Aika wanted to tell him something and found him already asleep. Guessing that she was already drunk, he decided to wait until the next morning.

Turning on his side, he faced Aika before closing his eyes for the night with a smile. Vyse didn't see her shift closer before snuggling next to him with a sigh. "Someone took my bed." she muttered half asleep. "You don't mind if I borrow yours, right?"

"N-no, that's fine." Vyse stammered. "But who would take yours?"

"Mmmh...I think it was Fina." she managed to say. "I saw her white dress hanging on my chair when I came back and knew somebody was sleeping in my bed. But she looked so out of it today so I let her."

"Then who's in Fina's bed?" Vyse thought out loud, but he shook his head. "Nevermind. Let's get some sleep and talk about this in the morning, okay?"

"Okay captain." With that they closed their eyes and fell asleep, too tired and tipsy to say anything else.


End file.
